My rules

1. If new, only ever wear on bone dry days until the surface has worn off the soles and the dust and grit of the pavement have hardened up the sole to almost a shine. Never wear on damp or wet pavements - get a cab. You will take months of the life ofthe sole.
2. Rotate wearing shoes - wearing them once per week is plenty. Never re-wear a wet or damp shoe.
3. Get shoe trees into them the moment they are off. Preferably cedar ones.
4. Allow them to dry for a day or two (even if not wet, there will be a lot of sweat in the linings) - never near heat, even if soaking wet. Rapid drying will crack the leather especially on the soles.
5. Give them a good rubbing-in with a quality wax or beeswax polish and let it soak in. Especially in the creases.
6. Polish them several hours or a day later. A high density brush is gret and finish with a duster.
7. Put back in cupboard, away from daylight with shoes trees in. Daylight hardens, shrinks and dries out leather it will also fade your shoes a lot - never leave in direct sunlight.
8. At the first signs of a hole in the sole - repair. If you continue wearing them you may damage the cork filling under the sole and that too will have to be replaced - upping your bill! Also make sure ifthey are a decent, British, Goodyear welted shoe that your cobbler knows exactly what he is doing. High street repairers are in a hurry and may be sloppy about the stitching - resulting in damage to the welt - which will then have to be replaced at the next resoling. Don't scrimp on the repairs - a factory repair if you can get it will return them almost as new.

There we are - long may your shoes last - a stitch in time saves nine!

Incidentally - if you are looking for great British Good year welted shoes - try Shipton and Heneage www.shipton.com

By Investing in Cathcart Elliot Shoe Trees you have made an important decision to protect your considerable investment in shoes. The more expensive the shoe - the more important it is to try to preserve their good looks and extend their life.

The main function of shoe trees is to help straighten out the creases and reshape the shoe, as well as help them to air/dry. Why is this important? Creases will eventually split, it may take many years, but they will go. Straightening the shoe out with shoe trees (and regular polishing) will help the leather recover.

One of the golden rules of looking after fine shoes is not wearing the same shoes on consecutive days - why? because feet are one of the sweatiest parts of the body - accumulation of sweat/dampness damages the leather. Far better to allow them to dry naturally (not force dried with a heat source), and cedar wood shoe trees are excellent in helping achieve that.

Cedar Shoe Trees protect leather, stitching and soles in your shoes from moisture damage. Cedar wood has a unique wicking action absorbing moisture out of the leather in your shoes. Your feet produce a large amount of sweat, even in cool conditions, that is absorbed into the linings and leather of your shoes.

Cedar shoe-trees not only help your shoes dry out, more importantly they help smooth out creases and wrinkles in the leather helping the shoes keep their shape and protecting the leather from cracking.

By no means restrict your self to cedar wood, beech wood is heavier and stronger. Abuse a cedar wood shoe tree and it will split or crack - it is not a strong wood. Cedar wood is light - great for travelling with shoes, and has insect repellant qualities as well. Beech shoe trees lacks these qualities but is strong.

There is much more to looking after shoes than just using shoe trees, but that's another story.